


Amor Comes From Armor

by Sai_Cannopy



Series: Underdogs™ Because of Square Enix [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, and a ghost of Christmas past, finally some delicious fucking Kingdom Hearts update for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13690815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sai_Cannopy/pseuds/Sai_Cannopy
Summary: While Sora and Riku are out doing their part to save their worlds, Yen Sid takes this time to send out Kairi and Lea to search for clues of the Keyblade's past. Somehow they earn a friend and companion in Max Goof, and the trio struggle to get anything done while one of Sora's "friends" comes to haunt them.Needless to say, they more or less try to survive (and help other worlds out) rather than get any of their mission done.





	Amor Comes From Armor

**Author's Note:**

> HOOOOOLY SHIT this is ridiculous.
> 
> So I basically stayed up to watch the damn update videos (thanks David) and fuck I am not ready. Like seriously I didn't think Marluxia or Vanitas would return; that the Monsters Inc. leaks were real; or that we would get to play as Riku! Like I honest-to-God thought that this would return to its "original" roots in terms of just playing Kingdom Hearts 2's kind of story. Mind you my mind's still reeling from the damn pink shit's blue eyes instead of golden eyes and how Lauriam and a younger Ventus exist.
> 
> So while I am posting this later than I wanted to (I kinda wanted to post something else for KH 3's newest update), I will be posting a lot more. I'm not kidding when I say that.
> 
> Thank you for reading all of that, and enjoy what should've been a crack idea but has now become a full-fledged idea.

“Guys?”

 

“What now, Max?” Kairi hisses at the other, checking behind the boulder that’s hiding the two.

 

“ _Why_ exactly did we decide to come here?” He slowly joins her to see how the fight’s fairing, but he squeaks as something explodes in his face.

 

“A little help – OOF!” Lea tries calling for help, but it’s cut short as he’s suddenly smashed into one of the bigger boulders. “I’m okay.”

 

Max is curling in on himself, whimpering “we’re so flipped we’re so flipped why did we come here” as the fight somehow continues. Kairi would scoff at him if it weren’t for the fact that this was her decision and she too was scared shitless by this enemy. But right now is not the time for doing nothing! She has to stay strong and –

 

“Look out!” is all she hears before a keyblade smashes their hiding spot to smithereens.

 

* * *

  

“You two are fucking _lucky_ Cid made that emergency button! Without that damn thing we’d be DEAD! DEAD! If you do that again The Shield is DONE! D-O-N-E! Capiche?”

 

The two Keyblade warriors hang their heads as Max continues to grumble curses and bandage them up.

 

 _You know_ he thinks as he tightens one particular bandage on Lea, giving him a pained grunt that he ignores as he continues his work. _You’d think that this would be something you’d get used to._

 

“But noooo!” He doesn’t realize he’s talking aloud, so he doesn’t see Kairi and Lea give give each other the here-we-go-again look. “No! In fact, it gets far worse with each encounter! They nearly get each other killed! K-I-L-L-E-D! Almost like Dad!”

 

“Max—“

 

“No, Kairi! Not this time!” He turns abruptly to the two. “You guys will get yourselves killed! There might be a time where we might not even have a damn BODY to find! Y-you guys might become t-t-those THINGS! W-w-what would Riku think? The King? Hell, even Sora! Did you guys even think about them? About me?”

 

There’s a long pause amongst the three, the soft purring of the ship’s engine the only source of noise. There’s clear guilt between the two, and that makes Max proud. “You guys are not like your friends. _You_ are not like whatever you were before, Lea. And _you_ , Kairi, are not this Aqua person. I’m not my father either.

 

“But at the very least, don’t become like them. Think about yourselves. Your friends. Me! Think about what we’d feel if you two went POOF all of a sudden. Promise me this, will you two?” He wants to cry for these idiots. “A-at least try.”

 

“… We’ll try. We can’t promise we’ll remember, but we’ll try at the very least.” Kairi calmly promises, though she looks like she’s going to cry too.

 

“I’ll try as well.” Lea deadpans. A glare from the both of them makes him put his hands up. “What? I promise I will!”

 

“Bet a hundred munny he’ll forget.”

 

“A thousand he’ll do it soon.”

 

“Hey!” The two laugh as he curses at them. “Hearts, you two are the worst!”

 

* * *

  

“So, Max, where are we headed towards?”

 

“Radiant Garden.”

 

“Back all the way there? Why?”

 

“First off, we need to restock. If you haven’t noticed, that battle drained us _a lot_ of our potions and ethers. Second, I’m declaring myself leader and ordering this team a break.”

 

“A-a break?! Max, we have no _time_ for a break!”

 

“Uh uh uh! _We_ have time. The worlds and Xehanort can go suck it for all I care. Plus, we’re not Sora or Riku! Don’t forget what our – and I quote – ‘true goal’ is.”

 

“But still –“

 

“Lea, I’d rather we at least rest up a little before we head back into hell holes like that and risk our lives to the Heartless or those cloaked guys, ‘k?”

 

“… Fine. But you better make it quick.”

 

“For that, we’re going for 2 months.”

 

“MAX!”

 

* * *

 

Cid is crying as the three come out of the smoking wreckage that was supposed to be a new construction site. They’re not sure if he’s pissed at them or if he’s remembering all those memories of Sora and his gang of misfits crashing their ship. However, the trio are guilty of the fact that they destroyed what was going to be a new building for the public, and they promise to help with whatever they can. Merlin shushes them and, with a wave of his wand, brooms similar to Master Yen Sid’s come in to clean the mess. “You three look like you’d destroy more rather than help in your current states. Go ahead and rest up for now,” the wizard tells them.

 

Max swears he hears Leon grumble, “You’d’ve think these idiots would be _sooo_ much better than _them_ , but _noooo_ of course not! Christ, they might be worse than them…”

 

* * *

 

 

“What’s that?” Lea points at the little white blip that’s been bugging him the past few minutes.

 

It’s been exactly two weeks since their pit stop at Radiant Garden. Lea was scared that Max was going to make do on his threat and keep them for that long, but apparently not. He was also partially scared for his life when Tifa came to help out and suddenly picked all three of them up just to dunk them onto their bed at Merlin’s magical place of existence.

 

Once they were back in the best shape, they had left, though Max gave them a third of their munny beforehand. Now they were just traveling through the big, empty-except-for-Heartless space of something.

 

As for that blip that he’s noticing slowly getting bigger?

 

“What’s _what_ , Lea? You could be referring to a Heartless for all I know, and I would be none the wiser,” Max snaps back, most likely due to how tense he was as they passed the Keyblade Graveyard.

 

“Lea, please don’t be joking right now…” Kairi whines as she turns to see what this ‘thing’ Lea’s referring to. “Shit, is that –“

 

“Max, floor it.”

 

“Wha- what the hell you two – GAH!” He shouts as Lea and Kairi scramble towards the controls and try pushing the accelerator. “Stop it! Let me – oh snipper clips of another dog.”

 

That tiny white dot, the trio realize with increasing fear, is getting closer, and with each passing minute it becomes clear that it’s the armored being from the Graveyard.

 

“Press it damnit –“ Lea fumbles as Max starts pushing them even harder for control back.

 

“I’m trying to – get away you two! I can handle –“

 

“Now’s not the time, Max! Press the damn button – ugh!”

 

The three hit the control panel, and Lea feels a bump growing. He’s sure they’ll all be feeling the aftereffects once they land. If they do.

 

“Max? Max!” Kairi’s shouting gets to him, and he sees that he’s slumped over the controls. Another bang hits the ship, and a loud screech erupts from the girl as she somehow brings the younger of the three alongside her to the floor. “Ouch…”

 

“You gonna – shit – gonna be okay, Kai?” Lea tries heading over to her, but she holds a hand up to stop him.

 

“Fly first, help later. We’re gonna need all the boosts in the world to get away from it.”

 

Lea hesitates briefly. He wants to help her, since he doesn’t want to lose her. But unfortunately they’re going to have to heal later if they want any chance of survival.

 

He hops into the captain’s seat and presses down on the accelerator. “Brace yourself, Kairi, because this thing isn’t gonna stop for no one!”

 

* * *

 

 

They’re rushing out of the ship the moment it crash lands into the sand. The duo don’t bother to check their ship or the fact that they’re breathing – Max comes first.

 

Survival too, since the armored freak of nature is now mobile; it might come after them down here.

 

* * *

 

 

“How are we not dead yet?!” The humanoid dog yells at the two as he wakes up. “And what the fresh heckleberries am I wearing?!”

 

The two cover his mouth, though not before he yelps. A shadow hangs over the abandoned stall they’ve been hiding, and they wait. Deep breaths as the clanging comes closer, and then it stops.

 

Max almost passes out when the thing just leaves. There’s no clanging of its body to tell this or any other hint. The shadow is just gone.

 

He’s not sure how they’re in Agrabah, but somehow they managed to get across _half of the damn space of nothing-except Heartless_ area. The place was barren when they arrived here, but it didn’t that the bazaar provided little to no protection from the sun nor any water. In fact, the place was practically trashed.

 

He hopes the owner’s a little grateful that theirs hasn’t been destroyed more.

 

“Well that was a close one.”

 

“A close one?!” He shouts at Lea, who makes a shushing sound despite having raised his voice earlier. “No, don’t you shush me! We almost _died_! Again! Kairipleasetellmehe’sgone –“

 

“Max. Breathe. And drink this while you’re at it, you’re getting close to dehydration.”

 

“Thanks Kairi.” He drinks what he thinks is a majority of the bottle before turning towards the eldest. “And will you tell me how the hell—“

 

“Hey!” The trio turn, and some sort of bandit is waving his sword at them as he rushes towards them. “You three are going die today and give the Forty Thieves all your belongings!”

 

“Feet don’t fail me now,” Max starts to his feet as Kairi drags them both up, and they’re running again into the sand of hell.

 

* * *

 

 

The trio come across what looks like footprints of the armored monster as they explore the world, but it’s nothing noteworthy.

 

Instead of focusing on it, they’re focusing on helping Jasmine and Aladdin with their thieve problem.

 

For the most part, it goes okay. They beat up the Heartless incoming and keep the Princesses away from them and the thieves. They manage to help earn some of the treasure back, but the thieves are still in the palace.

 

Shit _really_ hits the fan when they realize that the leader, Cassim, is Aladdin’s father. And apparently, since he killed Sa’luk – “Yeah, I really highly doubt that.” “Lea, shut it please.” – the former thief is now a part of said man’s gang.

 

The worst part is realizing that Aladdin followed him and was… maybe helping his father out? Neither of them are sure on what’s going on.

 

They are happy but exhausted after they successfully beat the bastard – and what do you know, a damn Xehanort was assisting him – in a rather anti-climatic battle. Kairi and Lea are proud of the two for changing for the better and being there for each other, but Max is a little skeptical. It’s not until he hears directly from both the bird and the old man that he believes in them.

 

They stay for the wedding – which goes off with a bang, literally thanks to Lea – and they rest as they help out the world with restoration. Kairi asks the Sultan and the Genie if there’s any information concerning their roots, but neither know of these warriors other than Sora. Lea sees Cassim and Iago off, but not before giving them a piece of advice concerning traveling and keeping in contact with his son.

 

Max asks the Genie if there was any sort of armored monster going around the world. He turns up empty.

  

* * *

 

 

“Engines?”

 

“Check.”

 

“Laser guns?”

 

“Pew pe—yes.”

 

“Food?”

 

“Checking… yep!”

 

“Don’t eat it all, Max.”

 

“W-why are you assuming _I_ would?! Look, I love the food that they gave us, but I’m not –“

 

“Pfft!”

 

“S-stop laughing!”

 

“Armored monstrosity of strength following us?”

 

“Fuck you, Lea.”

 

“Unfortunately, yes.”

 

“Better hope we aren’t fucked.”

 

“More like let’s hope Cid won’t murder us if he ever finds out this thing got wrecked and lost the Button.”

 

* * *

  

It takes about four worlds before there’s a noticeable change in the Armored Dog’s behavior.

 

For some reason it didn’t attack them when they came and left to Radiant Garden. (Cid somehow didn’t murder them, but he did say he wasn’t trusting them with a new upgrade unless the thing didn’t plan on destroying their ship.) It doesn’t stop it from stalking them, and Max is sure that it landed with them, but there’s no proof.

 

It does attack them once they come near the Graveyard, but they’re left with less damage than before once they leave that world’s vicinity.

 

In fact, once the _RLS Legacy_ , which has Heartless swarming its deck, appears, it disappears.

 

That “world”, in itself, was a pain of a trip to work with. Not only did they have to help with protecting the ship’s crew, who were sorry for the inconvenience, but they had to help with finding this Treasure Planet. They helped uncover John Silver’s plot and somehow, _somehow_ , they managed to keep the crew alive through the damn rollercoaster of the Planet’s destruction.

 

Then they get thrown for a loop as John Silver actually chooses his life over the treasure and tries to leave for doing it, Jim helping him do so. Lea’s the only one who knows about the man’s choice, but he doesn’t tell anyone. In fact, the fact that he helps the man leave shocks the two young adults, who nearly beat him to death before he spills a partial truth. They leave the ship after a day of repairs to the _RLS_ , and the red-haired warrior jokingly agrees to Captain Amelia’s offer before, once again, he’s nearly beaten by the duo and their new friend Jim. (No news on the olden days still. “You’d think these people were good with recording crap, but noooo.” Max grumbles to himself after Lea’s attempt in knowing anymore about the pre-War.)

 

Kairi swears that she saw it help them take down the Heartless that was slowly killing off Treasure Planet.

 

It does follow them into the Scottish kingdom of Princess Merida, but it does nothing but watch them. The only time it became active was when they encountered a rather fearsome set of Living Pods came after them, but it only attacked the Heartless.

 

“I don’t trust it, Kairi,” Max says when she addresses them about the sudden change, Lea nodding in agreement. “I know that it hasn’t been attacking us and all – and don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy keeping my head on my shoulders! It’s just that we can’t take that risk, especially with the current events.”

 

Kairi can’t help but feel a little pang within, but she ignores it for the most part.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hi guys! Hi Kairi!” Sora shouts over the newly made Cid-nection made just for their gummi ships a week back. A series of ‘hello’s and ‘hi’s bounces between the two ships in response to the greeting. “What are you guys doing out here?”

 

Lea rolls his eyes. Of course the kiddo wouldn’t know; kid never contacted people if it meant his life. “Master Yen Sid just sent us on our merry way to find out more about the past. You know, with the Keyblade War and the Unions and basically _everything_ you ignored as you slept?”

 

“It’s not my fault that stuff is boring!”

 

“Don’t push it, Lea. You know it’ll never work.”

 

“Kairi! C’mon! You’re supposed to be on my side!” Sora whines as he slinks further into his seat. He does look up before asking, “So how’s it going so far? Any progress?”

 

Max snorts. “As much as finding out if a goose lays a golden egg. And no, Dad, you know that that movie is fake.”

 

“Gwarsh, son! This is why I never take you to tha movies. You really take tha fun outta things.” Goofy cries out. “No wonder you’re with them.”

 

“Hey! I don’t do that at all!” Lea cries out, outraged by the accusations. “I just point out the flaws in the animation, that’s all!”

 

“And how they’re not life-like or how they don’t blend or how something is using the green screen correctly… Hate to break it to you, Lea, but Dad’s right on this.”

 

The group laughs as Lea tries to whack Max for his comments. “I’ll get you back on this, you can goddamn count on it,” he mumbles to himself.

 

“Hey, guys? What’s that over there?” Sora is straining at something that’s past them, though it looks like he can’t see it

 

“W-what do you mean, thing?” Kairi nervously asks.

 

Subtle glances to the back shows yes, that damn thing is still following them. Something that Max had adamantly said he had lost a world ago. Just their luck.

 

“It… looks like… a flying ship? It’s too small. Why not check it out?”

 

“I-I’m sure it’s nothing!” Max squeaks, giving Lea his best ‘sorry?’ face. “D-don’t worry about it, we’ll be fine! I hope…”

 

“ANYWAYS!” Lea loudly yells, earning him glares from the group of hopefully-not-too-observant group. “We should get going. YOU,” he points to the screen, “should too. Better that you take out those nasty vessels before they get what they want.”

 

“You sure? We can jump over there and help you –“

 

“No no, we’ll be fine!” The toon dog jumps in on the elder wielder’s plan. “Trust us on this. Plus, we’ll be slowing you down. The sooner the better, right?”

 

Sora is scrunching up his face, deep in thought over this situation. Donald gives them the knowing look while Goofy looks worried. Eventually Sora sighs. “Alright, I’ll let you guys be. But be careful! You never know if it’s _him_.” A disgusted look briefly flashes by, which is something of a feat for the kid. “Good luck!”

 

“And you too, Sora.”

 

“Oh! Before I go – Kairi!” He waits for the girl to look at him, the questioning hum giving him the go. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

 

* * *

  

“Okay, so you know how the others have this whole ‘name’ to them?”

 

“Okay, one: no they don’t. Two, we are _not_ going with ‘The Flaming Gays and their Armored Dog’.”

 

“That wasn’t one, but maybe we should use that one…”

 

“Lea we are NOT using that.”

 

“Fine then, Mr. I-can-come-up-with-the-best-names-in-the-worlds, what do you have that’s better than mine?”

 

“The Underdogs.”

 

“Shit. I take that back, that one’s a good one.”

 

“Max, did you just make a pun?”

 

“Wha – oh snipper ducts, I did.”

 

“Are we including Monster Guy floating outside?“

 

“No!”

 

“Yes.”

 

“ _Please_ remember that that thing tried to kill us all three months ago!”

 

“Well, it won’t leave us, and it usually looks after us –“

 

“I’m sure it’s _you_ it’s looking after.”

 

“—so yeah! I say it’s a dog and we keep it.”

 

“I’ll get the adoption papers, you pay the fee, Maxi.”

 

“I hate you two. So. Dragonniblets. Mucho.”

 

* * *

 

 

The trio are helping Ana and her friends get to the trolls when Kairi tells them, “I’ll be back real quick, I promise. Keep on going.” Despite the strange looks she earns, she’s off.

 

She comes back with a load of supplies that Max and Lea know for a fact she could not have gotten. In fact, some of them look like materials from other worlds. To her credit, she does have a mystified look to her face, so they back off from the questioning and focus on getting Ana healed.

 

* * *

 

Lea looks absolutely _disgusted_ when Kairi sees him look at Hans. They all are, how could they not? Well, sure, this is a different world and all and this is pretty tame in comparison to Xemnas, but what’s the difference?

 

“And two princesses, no less…” Lea grumbles. “I would’ve killed that bastard if it weren’t for you guys.”

 

“Well, I think it was worth not massacring him. That was a nice punch for someone who’s never fought before in her entire life.” She chuckles as the three remember the beauty of the scene. “Anyways, we should get going.”

 

The other two nod at her, and they head over to their allies to tell them of their departure.

 

* * *

 

“Guys?” Max points at the gigantic Nobody dragon that just popped out of no where above them. “What’s the plan?”

 

There’s a brief pause as the trio digests the thing before Lea is fighting Max for the controls. “Leaving leaving out out out MAX LET ME –“

 

“HOLY FUCK LEA HOLD ON—“

 

“Brace yourselves, guys, he’s coming!” Kairi shouts before the ship groans from something, most likely an attack.

 

“Oh fuurgh!” Lea yelps as his head smacks harshly against the floor. He’s dazed, but from what Max can guess he’s fine. “Jeez, give us time to react, ya shitheads…”

 

“How’s our engines lookin’, Tron?” Max is frantically pressing buttons, trying to shoot _something_ at the damn thing before they all die, this time for real.

 

“ **Not so good, Max.** ” The robotic voice of the program is everywhere, proving to being louder than the alarms going off. “ **One engine is nearly destroyed alongside a majority of our weapons.** ”

 

“Great, just great –“

 

“ **But the air conditioner is working just fine!** ”

 

“I swear those two fucking added their sense of humor!” Lea yells from somewhere in the back.

 

“I would be complaining and saying cliché crap about this shit, but I ain’t gonna. We’re gonna try heading back!”

 

“Sure thing, captain,” Kairi growls happily as she manages to get a direct hit somehow with one of the buttons she pressed. “Hopefully Cid won’t murder us.”

 

They don’t notice the armored machine brutally taking down the Nobody as they make their escape.

 

* * *

  

“You would think that, after three years of this crap, maybe. Just maybe _think_. That I could handle this.” Aerith smiles at the three. Kairi is looking down while Max is slowly feeling like fainting. Lea just looks bored, but they know it’s just a tactic to hide his fear. “That since I had already gone through this, this would be a reoccurring theme.”

 

Max tries to stave off their death, just for a little bit. “W-we c-could help you? Rebuild it?”

 

The two teens, who were closest to her to begin with, yelp in pain as Aerith grabs their ears. “Help? Help!? That’s the _third_ crop I had to replant! THIRD! And yes! You guys are going to help us! You are _not_ going to be leaving until they are ready for _plucking_! I don’t care about what Xehanort has planned, he can go fuck himself!

 

“You owe me five _acres_ of your lives!”

 

“Y-ya might wanna ease up there, Aerith.” Cid stutters, sinking further into his seat as her wrathful gaze comes upon him

 

“And why would I do _that_ , Mr. I-don’t-take-responsibility-for-this-crap-when-I-should?!”

 

Max slumps in her grip, out like a blown-out candle. Kairi looks like she wants to cry, though out of what no one will know. Lea is just running around the house, looking for cover.

 

 _'What’s going on?_  ' The armored being’s voice whistles throughout the house.

 

* * *

  

“It’s official, Sora. He’s our dog now.”

 

“Y-you mean _that thing_ is with you guys?!”

 

 _'I’m not a_ thing _, kid! I’m… I don’t remember.'_

 

“Yeah, exactly!”

 

“And yet you guys never introduced us to him! So what?”

 

“W-w-well, I – I-I mean… There was no time to explain this!”

 

“Nah, brat, you had _plenty_ a time. Could’a told us ‘bout those damn digital monstrosities too while you were at it. But _nope_! Leave _us_ to handle tha dirty work.”

 

“I’m sorry, but h-how was I supposed to know that was important? They did nothing once I finished beating them!”

 

“And have a repeat of the MCP incident? Hell nah, kid, we actually wanna live in Radiant Garden for once in some damn years.”

 

“Sorry, guys…”

 

“No need ta mope about it anymore. For the most part, we’re grateful. Gives us more to work with, see what we can find out about Ansem’s research. If we’re extra lucky, maybe an upgrade for the computer and the claymore system.”

 

“That’s great! How’s Tron doing, by the way?”

 

_'He’s like a bungee cord…'_

 

“Yuuup. And you better get used to it fast.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you guys know that I don't know Max's personality at all? And kinda did this off the back of my hand? Sorry if you Goof Trooper fans are a little annoyed by how he acts, but seriously he was the first to pop up in my head as for a third possible member if Kairi and Lea ended up getting their own game (give this guy some love man).
> 
> This story was a lot of fun to write up! The L.W. was more or less the crack part of the idea, since I was like 'what if he could move around how scary would that be, both for the Will, the Norts, and Sora?' Also, to make this certain: he does not know much about his past, but he'll slowly remember over time (highly doubt he'll ever get his body back).
> 
> There will be a part 2, though it's more of a useless addon since I am a sucker for Vanitas and really like his character. I can write him better than most characters like Xehanort, that's for sure.
> 
> Expect more updates in the coming week or so for more KH fics, I got ideas and my writing spirit for The Voice back!


End file.
